American found guilty of bigamy

By Rich Chang / Staff reporter

Tue, Jan 22, 2013 - Page 4

An American man who was found guilty of marrying two Taiwanese women claimed during his trial that Taiwan’s court was racially discriminating against him.

The Supreme Court recently decided to uphold the ruling by the Taiwan High Court that sentenced the man, surnamed Huang (黃), and a woman, to eight months in prison for adultery and offences against marriage and family.

The court ruled that the pair could commute the sentences into fines.

A Supreme Court document said that in September 1997 Huang and a woman held a wedding ceremony in a restaurant in Taipei. They lived together and had two children, but in 2006 the couple started to live separately.

The Supreme Court added that in 2008 Huang had a second wedding to marry a different woman, and the pair registered themselves as a couple at a Taipei City Government’s Household Registration Office.

The Supreme Court added that Huang’s first wife filed a lawsuit accusing Huang and the other woman of adultery and offences against marriage and family.

During the trials, Huang denied he married twice, saying the 1997 event was an engagement party, not a wedding ceremony, adding that he was not familiar with Taiwan’s marriage regulations.

After Huang appealed the ruling, he told the High Court that the district court was racially discriminating against him and that the district court did not adopt witnesses’ testimonies in his favor.

According to a Supreme Court document, the High Court said that the invitation for the 1997 event was titled “wedding invitation,” and they took wedding dress photographs at the time, indicting Huang must have known that it was a wedding.